why did you choose the Username you are using on TalkedAbout ?

Scepticalscribe

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There is a woman writer from India who also uses the moniker "Scepticalscribe," on Twitter and other places, and for a while I thought you were she!

Seriously?

I never knew that.

On Twitter, I use my own name, but that also severely limits what I can write.

In fact, I was working in Kabul when a Dutch colleague persuaded me to open a Twitter account - he argued (correctly) that it was an excellent way of keeping abreast of local (informal) political thinking, and that is its main function for me, even now.

However, I deliberately put a lock on my own account while I was in Kabul so that I couldn't tweet - after all, I was there in a diplomatic capacity - and I was terrified that I would write something stupid - or, unwise , or intemperate - while in an uninhibited and relaxed and unguarded state having consumed a few glasses of beer or wine some evening.

I didn't unlock it until my deployment ended.

(Yes, it could be argued that there are some who have held office more recently who could - perhaps - have taken a similar approach and used Twitter with restraint).

When I joined MR, and tested a few possible user names, all of the original ones I had thought of were already taken.

Anyway, when I eventually came up with Scepticalscribe, I liked the look of it on paper, and I also like the alliteration of the word. Above all, I like how - as with your own user-name - it echoes my life, my preferences, temperament, character, and my profession - as writing analytical (or descriptive) reports has been a key part of my job since I started working in an international environment, whereas, prior to that, as an academic, I also wrote a lot, and am the author of a (published) history book.
 
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rdrr

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I always have tried to rdrr for most of my IDs everywhere. Its from an old Simpsons (Season 1 Episode 2) episode where Bart cheats on an entrance exam for a AP school and is in a math class that the teacher says here is "and if you determine the rate of change in the curve correctly, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised." Everyone but Bart gets it right away.

The equation breaks down to rdrr = har dee har har.
 

Clix Pix

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Just took another look and it seems that journalist Rina Chandran has now changed her user name on Twitter to "Distantly Social," for whatever reason.... Anyway, she used to call herself Sceptical Scribe on there. Looks as though she is now based in Thailand, but she has lived in several places around the world.

Definitely "Scepticalscribe" is a moniker well-suited to a writer! :)
 

Clix Pix

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I post in both forums but as it happens I tend not to post or participate in the PRSI forum at MR, while I have been more actively participating here in the current discussions of voting/election-related events here in the US...... I initially joined MR because I was interested in the tech -- at that time, Apple was still doing the PPC platform -- and I still tend to hang out more only in the subforums discussing some new Apple item I've bought or am thinking of buying, as well as a couple of subforums in the "Community" section or in the Privates. I also hang out daily in the Photography subforum there and usually have an offering to submit on a daily basis.

That said, yes, because I was posting in non-PRSI subforums on MR today I indeed was careful about my wording after certain news broke in the US so that I would not get nailed for posting something political in a non-political section..... :)
 

lizkat

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@Scepticalscribe @ericgtr12 @Alli @lizkat

good morning.

for people who have accounts in both forums, in general, do you think the tenor of their posts changes depending on if they are posting on TalkedAbout or posting on MR?

Hell yes (in PRSI). I started censoring myself over there a long time ago, somewhere around the time there were site and forum feedback discussions about group slurs and whether something was racist.

Regardless of how I felt about any of that I had been noticing that people who didn't like left leaning folks posting facts would do stuff like take a thread slightly off topic, draw people into the sidebar and keep that going until they themselves would suggest maybe the thread was drifting off topic and they'd post some deflection back to their BS in the main thread and then SNAP! --and a whole raft of posts on the sidebar with assorted cogent arguments against the BS in that digression would disappear. Then the thread would revert to the main topic and the BS on that subject would resume.

I was like OK I get it... and I don't have time to waste with those games, I was tired of seeing posts and citations disappear behind a mod's notification that "post deleted as it was an off topic response to an off topic post." Seriously? why not grab the drifty part and stick it in a separate thread ffs. Well bc sometimes the original driftmaker had in mind an off topic drift, usually to some reliably hot-button subject, and maybe even enough provocative remarks would ensue in that sidebar to fetch a left-leaner's off guard violation of guidelines?

Well I'm old and conscious of being in the late afternoon of my life so even if I enjoy jousting on social media sometimes, that sorta stuff takes the worth AND the fun out of it. So F that stuff, I'm out.

Lately I don't post more than maybe a like or a considered one-liner over there, maybe a link to a mainstream piece to support something I find of interest. If the planet doesn't blow up before Biden's inauguration I'll maybe pop over there and have some fun if there's any to be had. It's more reliably fun to hang out here, that's for sure, even if I have concerns sometimes that we could use more diversity of opinion. But that may come in time anyway once this orange creature and his minions are dislodged from "leadership" of the American government.
 

Alli

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for people who have accounts in both forums, in general, do you think the tenor of their posts changes depending on if they are posting on TalkedAbout or posting on MR?
We don’t try to self-censor here, as Liz pointed out in her post above. And because we’re not working crazy hard not to offend anyone, we tend to curse...cause it’s allowed here, damnit!
 

Thomas Veil

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Like others, I'm using the same name I used in The Old Country.

Here is where my name comes from:

Nowhere Man is the story of photojournalist Thomas Veil, who discovers that his life has been abruptly "erased": his friends claim not to know him, his wife claims not to recognize him and is living with another man. His ATM cards and credit cards no longer work. His best friend turns up dead. His private studio is now owned by someone else. His mother, recovering from a stroke, is incapable of confirming his existence. He is ejected from his favorite restaurant as a total lunatic. In the course of a single evening, every trace of Tom's identity is gone.

A user name is, after all, a way of remaining anonymous on the internet...and nobody is more anonymous than Thomas Veil.

...

I should note that I am so looking forward to changing my avatar come January 20th. I've been using this one for four years, and I'm more than ready to get rid of it.
 

Alli

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Like others, I'm using the same name I used in The Old Country.

Here is where my name comes from:



A user name is, after all, a way of remaining anonymous on the internet...and nobody is more anonymous than Thomas Veil.

...

I should note that I am so looking forward to changing my avatar come January 20th. I've been using this one for four years, and I'm more than ready to get rid of it.
I recall a season of a tv show based on that. I would like to have seen it go longer.

I’m also looking forward to your changing your avatar!
 

Mark

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Like others, I'm using the same name I used in The Old Country.

Here is where my name comes from:



A user name is, after all, a way of remaining anonymous on the internet...and nobody is more anonymous than Thomas Veil.

...

I should note that I am so looking forward to changing my avatar come January 20th. I've been using this one for four years, and I'm more than ready to get rid of it.
PNGイメージ 2.png
PNGイメージ.png

Since I had not heard of Nowhere Man I searched for it.
I’m very very very glad for you it is the 1st one above and not the 2nd one above.
😱
 

Thomas Veil

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And of course there was the Beatles song. Both of them predate the series and share nothing more than the title.

If Nowhere Man is related to anything, it’s because it bears a thematic resemblance to The Prisoner.
 

Scepticalscribe

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@Scepticalscribe @ericgtr12 @Alli @lizkat

good morning.

for people who have accounts in both forums, in general, do you think the tenor of their posts changes depending on if they are posting on TalkedAbout or posting on MR?
Yes, I realise that I am more relaxed (and a lot less annoyed) here, than when I post in The Other Place, The Other Country.
I remember that years ago Karen and Richard Carpenter recorded a song called "Nowhere Man." I wonder if this were their inspiration?

And of course there was the Beatles song. Both of them predate the series and share nothing more than the title.

If Nowhere Man is related to anything, it’s because it bears a thematic resemblance to The Prisoner.

Ah!!!! I think maybe what the Carpenters recorded was their version of the Beatles tune "Nowhere Man"...... The mention of the Beatles triggered a long-buried memory. Thanks!

Yes, the original version of this song comes courtesy of the Beatles, from an album named Rubber Soul, an excellent but regrettably under-rated album, to my mind.

Absolutely loved The Prisoner (with the debonair, urbane - and, to my mind, impossibly and inexpressibly cool - Patrick McGoohan).

Actually, when Patrick McGoohan died, Other Brother (knowing that I had liked him) phoned me to commiserate.
 
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